While Dove Cameron‘s acting career skyrocketed due partially to her roles in the Disney Channel comedy series Liv and Maddie and in the Descendants films — she revealed in a new interview that she doesn’t feel like she ever fit in with past Disney stars.

“I never had that moment where I was like, ‘I’m a Disney girl,’” she told the LA Times this week. “I never looked at Miley [Cyrus] or Demi [Lovato] or Selena [Gomez] or Zendaya or Bella [Thorne] or anybody — Hilary Duff or anybody that came before me — I never looked at them and thought, you and me — same.”

She added that she was “always the strange outlier who doesn’t belong and who will never fit in. I had huge imposter syndrome.”

“So I don’t really look to anybody else for a roadmap,” she continued. “I mean, this whole narrative that I was on Disney and then found my way out with a pop song, it was a total f—ing accident.”

Cameron’s 2022 hit, “Boyfriend,” gave the star her first top 20 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, as the sultry track peaked at No. 16 on the tally dated June 11, 2022. She also climbed to No. 1 on Billboard’s Emerging Artists chart (dated May 14) to become the top emerging act in the U.S. for the first time.

The singer came out as bisexual while hosting an Instagram Live session in 2020, but told Gay Times that “queer” is the label that best describes her identity.

“Every song of mine is a queer song because I’m a queer artist,” she told the LA Times. “Does that mean that every song is ‘I am G-A-Y?’ No. I think there’s gonna be a lot of room in my artistry to talk about things other than that I love women”

Read the full interview here.

Country singer-songwriter and alum of NBC’s The Voice Corey Kent scores his first entry on the Billboard Hot 100, thanks to “Wild as Her.”

The track, released via Combustion Masters/Sony Music Nashville, debuts at No. 89 with 6.8 million U.S. streams (up 29%) and 700 downloads sold (up 16%) in the June 17-23 tracking week, according to Luminate. It concurrently rises 24-20 on Hot Country Songs.

“The last few months have been a wild ride,” Kent tells Billboard. “The way people have responded to the music is completely changing my life. It’s been humbling to see ‘Wild as Her’ continue to grow and accomplish new things. Stoked to see where it goes from here!”
Though it’s his first time reaching the Hot 100, the 28-year-old Oklahoma native had previously made a dent on Billboard’s charts in 2015-16 as a finalist on the eighth season of The Voice. Three of the songs he performed on the show hit the Hot Country Songs chart: his cover of Garth Brooks’ “To Make You Feel My Love” reached No. 44 in April 2015 (marking his first appearance on any Billboard survey); his version of Jason Aldean’s “Why” reached No. 49; and his update of of Bad English’s “When I See You Smile” reached No. 38. Kent was then billed on the chart under his full name, Corey Kent White.

The following year, Kent’s LP Long Way reached No. 42 on Top Country Albums and No. 19 on Heatseekers Albums.

“Wild as Her” marks Kent’s first chart appearance since 2016, and his first as a Sony Music Nashville signee.

Kent is currently on tour with Eli Young Band, following stints opening for Chase Rice and Parker McCollum.

Saucy Santana taps the legendary and original ‘Material Girl’ Madonna to remix and perform her hit song ‘Material Girl’ at New York City pride.

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The 2022 BET Awards aired live from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday (June 26). Hosted by Taraji P. Henson for the second year in a row, the ceremony — billed as “culture’s biggest night” — celebrated “Black excellence.”

Doja Cat led in nominations with six, while Drake and Ari Lennox followed right behind with four each. Sean “Diddy” Combs was set to be honored with the lifetime achievement award, which will include the artist himself taking the stage for a star-studded performance set to include Mary J. Blige, Nas, Busta Rhymes and many others. (You can find the complete list of winners here.)

Lizzo, sparkling like a gold disco ball, kicked off the show with her performance of “About Damn Time.” Following that, Henson gave her opening monologue, during which she criticized the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, lamenting that women now have fewer rights than firearms. “It’s about damn time we talk about the fact that guns have more rights than a woman,” the Empire star said. “It’s a sad day in America. A weapon that can take lives has more rights than a woman that can give life if she wants to.” She was just one of several artists to address the loss of women’s right to safe abortions.

Beyond making political statements, the stars took the stage to stun with their performances, with surprises in numerous sets. Jack Harlow brought out Brandy, with whom he had playfully beefed earlier in the year. And in one moment that brought the audience to its feet, Mariah Carey came out to sing during Latto’s set.

Keep scrolling for more moments from the show, including some that you may not have seen on TV.

Big Freedia showed a lot of love to her fellow queen Beyoncé at the 2022 BET Awards Sunday night (June 26), after appearing on Bey’s new single “Break My Soul.”

“She’s unbelievable, she’s so humble. People think that she’s just this diva that’s a certain kind of way, but she is so sweet and so warm,” Freedia told Billboard on the red carpet at the awards show. “I love Beyoncé and all that she does and the impact that she has and the inspiration she gives all of us.”

The two previously collaborated on “Formation” on Queen Bey’s last studio album, 2016’s critically acclaimed Lemonade. Six years later, the duo reunite on Beyonce’s first single “Break My Soul” from her upcoming seventh studio album, Renaissance, which is due July 29.

On “Break My Soul,” Beyoncé samples Freedia’s 2014 track “Explode” from her album Just Be Free, which encourages listeners to “Release ya anger, release ya mind/ Release ya job, release the time/ Release ya trade, release the stress/ Release the love, forget the rest” in the pre-chorus. Freedia’s signature New Orleans bounce music is sprinkled into Bey’s new ’90s house-influenced track, but the 44-year-old singer is positive that bounce music will have a stronger impact on popular culture — and that Beyoncé isn’t the only superstar utilizing the sound Freedia helped popularize since the ’90s. 

“You’ve got people from Meg Thee Stallion to Lizzo to everybody doing bounce right now. So it has definitely impacted the culture,” she said on “culture’s biggest night.” “You got City Girls, Saucy Santana. We have definitely been putting the work and seeing it finally spread out to the world. ” 

In front of a backdrop of two framed paintings of cloudy pink skies, Chance the Rapper returned to the BET Awards stage on Sunday night (June 26) to perform “The Highs & The Lows” alongside Joey Bada$$.

The Chicago rapper has always put a focus on his uplifting lyrics, so it made sense that throughout his performance, the words of his latest single — released just this month — were displayed in lower-case font across the screen. Chance and Joey both made their way from the main stage to the circular stage in the middle of the crowd for the finale, with the same pink-tinged cloudy skies projected onto the platform.

“When it’s hard to keep your eyes on the road (Your eyes on the road)/ You start to feel your back on the ropes (Your back ‘gainst the ropes)/ You gotta take the highs with the lows (The highs with the lows),” the pair of MCs rapped, trading lines.

“The Highs & The Lows” is from Chance’s upcoming 2022 album Star Line Gallery, which will be his first album since 2019’s The Big Day. Joey Bada$$ also has a new album on the way, titled 2000. His third studio album was originally set to be released earlier this month but has been delayed due to sample clearances, Joey shared on Twitter.

Chance previously hit the BET Awards stage back in 2017 to close the show alongside DJ Khaled, Lil Wayne and Quavo with “I’m the One,” while this marked Joey Bada$$’s first BET Awards performance.

Shortly after taking home the Best New Artist trophy at the 2022 BET Awards, Latto delivered one of the most memorable performances of the ceremony on Sunday night (June 26), highlighted by the surprise reveal of Mariah Carey arriving to sing through the remix of Latto’s breakthrough smash, “Big Energy.”

Latto started off the performance with a commanding presence, rolling through new single “It’s Givin” by pounding her fists, then dancing on a desk placed center stage. Naturally, she segued into her top 10 hit “Big Energy,” with Young Dirty Bastard joining the rapper to pay homage to the remix of Mariah Carey’s “Fantasy,” which “Big Energy” interpolates.

After delivering the first half of the single, however, Latto deferred to a silhouette positioned center stage — which then evaporated into dozens of butterflies. Sure enough, Carey was on hand for a surprise reveal, performing part of “Fantasy” and thoroughly bringing down the house at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.

The performance ended with Carey and Latto embracing — one of multiple highlights for the latter on Sunday night, who took home the best new artist award. Latto became emotional while accepting the trophy, which she told the crowd was her very first award victory.

For the second year in a row, Taraji P. Henson hosted the ceremony. Doja Cat was the top nominee with six, trailed by Drake and Ari Lennox, who earned four nominations each. Sean “Diddy” Combs is set to receive the lifetime achievement award, and will take the stage for a star-studded performance that will include Mary J. Blige, Nas, Busta Rhymes, Faith Evans, Jodeci and others.

Follow along as the victors are announced during the ceremony by checking out our 2022 BET Awards winners list, which is being updated live.

Cardi B‘s “Hot Shit” is coming. The rapper has announced a release date for her new single and is promising “another surprise” is on the way.

“My new single ‘Hot Shit’ available everywhere THIS FRIDAY 7/1,” Cardi revealed on social media Sunday night (June 26). The post featured a very short teaser clip.

“Tomorrow 8pm I got another surprise for yall, tune in,” she hinted with a winking emoji.

“Hot Shit” will be the artist’s first single since last year’s “Up,” which peaked at No. 1 for a week on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart in March 2021. “Up” followed “WAP,” which spent four weeks topping the Hot 100 in 2020.

Fans have been patiently waiting for the follow-up to her full-length debut album, 2018’s Invasion of Privacy, which topped the Billboard 200 albums chart. In May, she explained that when there is news she can share, they’ll know. “When things come out, that’s when I’mma talk about it,” she pointed out on Twitter.

Check out Cardi’s “Hot Shit” preview below.

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